


Late Night Hypotheses

by you_think



Category: Free!
Genre: Canon Universe, Fluff, I'm new and I'm sorry, M/M, Sleepovers, idek if this is fluff actually, reigisa feels, the new official art gave me feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 02:06:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5112347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/you_think/pseuds/you_think
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa sleeps over Rei's, and a conversation arises during the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late Night Hypotheses

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've published, and I was gonna wait but then that Reigisa/Momotori Official Art popped up and I JUST HAD TO

“Can I stay over tonight? I had a bad day.” Beside him, Nagisa mumbled into his shoulder like the child he was not. Rei didn’t think much of the question. Having been best friends with Nagisa for a period nearing three years, Nagisa had, countless times, deliberately invited himself to Rei’s abode for the purpose of spending the night, often using his sisters’ bratty behaviours as an excuse for wishing to abandon his own house (Rei still found difficulty in deciphering whether the excuse was a mere pretence or a statement of truth). 

“Sure,” Rei relented, answering after a moment of Nagisa burrowing his head into Rei’s shoulder with a sound resembling a purr. “But you can’t complain when I wake you up at six A.M.”

“Ahhh, but Rei-cha-“ 

“And I refuse to stay up past nine o’clock.”

“Aw, Rei-chan, you-“

“I’m going to tell my mother that you’re staying over. You should call your parents while I’m gone, right?”  
The bashful giggle Rei’s statement elicited from Nagisa made him raise a brow.

“No worries,” he drawled in a voice feigning innocence, “I already did!” 

Rei groaned, both sounding and feeling caught off guard. Really, though, he should have known that this arrangement would have been pre-meditated by Nagisa. Sighing and standing from his place on the floor where he and Nagisa were studying, he continued on his way to inform his mother of Nagisa’s overnight stay. I guess it can’t be helped, he thought as he left a gleeful Nagisa who was busy packing away his school materials. 

 

\---

 

“Hey, Rei-chan.”

For a moment, Rei presumed Nagisa to be sleep talking. He was surprised to hear such a quiet, gentle voice come from him while he was still conscious.

“Yes?” he answered timidly from his place on the floor. On Rei’s bed beside him, he saw Nagisa staring upwards with his eyes locked on Rei’s ceiling. 

“What do you think about Haru-chan and Mako-chan?” Rei found his eyebrows furrowing, visually conveying the confusion which the dark lights marred from Nagisa’s vision, anyway. Even though Haru and Mako had left months beforehand to abide within Tokyo, Nagisa and Rei always found themselves speaking about the two, as well as with the two. Rei’s view of his senpais hadn’t deviated since Nagisa and he’s last conversation concerning the two. He looked upwards again to assure Nagisa truly was awake.

“What do you mean?”

“They’re dating now, right?” Right. Haru and Mako had informed Nagisa and Rei of the news little over two weeks ago. Rei remembered the unanchored feelings of father-like pride which surged through him when Makoto had told them bashfully during their last video call that he and Haru were leaving early for a date. Those feelings were amplified with Nagisa beside him; squealing and cooing and fussing foolishly. 

“They were when we last spoke to them yesterday. I presume they’re still together now,” Rei replied, thinking Nagisa sought clarification of the two’s relationship. Rei heard Nagisa turn on the bed as so he faced Rei by lying on his side. 

“It’s sort of funny how they’re only dating now though, right?” Rei savoured a moment for his own thoughts. He viewed nothing strange about waiting patiently to act on feelings of affection. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they’ve known each other for so long… since they were babies! Don’t you think they would have started dating ages ago?” Rei pondered Nagisa’s words, running them through his tired mind. A smile came unconsciously to his face as he responded. 

“I think Makoto-senpai has harboured feelings for Haruka-senpai for a long time, but wasn’t acting on them due to Haruka-senpai’s emotional state.” From the way Nagisa’s eyes drifted downwards for a moment, Rei could tell Nagisa was re-living the time of their second year: The fleeting time when Haru walked with a stroke of grey, when not even his swimming illuminated his movements. “I think Makoto senpai knew when he should and shouldn’t’ve acted on his feelings in accordance to Haru senpai’s own emotions and inner turmoils,” he continued, thoughtfully. There was silence, and Rei went on, now staring to the ceiling. “I think it’s truly admirable and amorous that Makoto-senpai selflessly put his emotions on hold for his loved one. For Haruka-senpai.” 

Nagisa was smiling down at him and, if the dark room hadn’t further swayed his already blurred vision, Rei saw that Nagisa wore a blush on his cheeks that made his pink eyes crinkle in a sincere, captivatingly beautiful way he seldom ever saw.

“I never thought of it that way,” his voice was soft. Nagisa’s thin index finger traced the sheets of Rei’s bed, his eyes following the trail of his nail and his gentle smile still lingering on his face. Suddenly, the switch to his energy source was, seemingly, ignited inexplicably. “Do you think the same thing happened with Rin-chan and Sou-chan?” he asked excitably.

"Eh?"

"Well, Rin-chan and Sou-chan did know each other back in elementary school, too." Rei recalled this information as if he had known it all along. 

"Oh, that's right. They were close then?"

"Yeah! Best friends!” Nagisa’s face scrunched adorably as he breathed a weightless laugh. “Hehe, I remember back at Iwatobi Swim Club, Rin-chan even said that Sou-chan was like his other half."

"Wow." Rei chuckled, "that's romantic for an elementary schooler." Nagisa muffled a giggle, too.

"Yeah. Rin-chan's actually a super romantic guy.” Nagisa used his hands to motion just how much of a ‘super romantic guy’ Rin was. 

"Really?" Nagisa’s sincere tone was the source of Rei’s intrigue. Rei’s tone still, however, couldn’t entirely mask his skepticism. 

"Yeah. Don't tell him I told you this, but Gou-chan told me that when Rin-chan confessed to Sou-chan, he wrote a whole speech on why he loved him and blah, blah, blah, but couldn’t read it all ‘cause he started crying." Rei chuckled.

"I know. Gou-san told me, too." If the awful lighting and lack of glasses still rendered Rei’s vision mostly accurate, he saw Nagisa blush yet again.

"Oh." There was silence. But something in the way Nagisa looked thoughtfully to the upper portion of Rei’s wall led him to believe Nagisa had more to say. Rei turned on his side to face Nagisa, pulling the blanket on the floor closer towards him. 

"I didn't expect Momo-chan and Ai-chan to start going out, though,” came Nagisa’s commentary.

"Eh-?! Oh, that's right. Of course. Yes, I must agree their relationship is quite unexpected.” It had certainly taken Rei by surprise when, two weeks prior at the Iwatobi and Samezuka joint practice session, Momo had placed a loud kiss on Ai’s cheek followed by the words, “Ai-chi, catch me!” and Ai had only responded by way of a flush to his cheeks and a smile on his lips. 

“Perhaps the fact that they’re roommates contributes to their compatibility,” added Rei, a pensive finger on his chin. He went to adjust the glasses which weren’t there. This action resulted in a blush from embarrassment, and the thought of, I hope Nagisa-kun didn’t see that. Unfortunately, indicated from his good-natured laugh, Nagisa had, in fact, witnessed Rei’s trivial slip. 

“Haha, Rei-chan!” he giggled. “It’s funny how all of our friends are in relationships, though,” continued Nagisa. “The only ones who aren’t dating is us.” It didn’t slip from Rei’s observations of how Nagisa’s tone softened, his eyes drifting downwards while his small smile conveyed his slight embarrassment. A small laugh came from Rei’s mouth. 

“You say that as if it’s a negative thing, Nagisa-kun! Just because neither of us have boyfriends or girlfriends, doesn’t mean we have to feel as if we’re not as happy, or accomplished, as people who are in relationships.” Rei paused for only a second, doing so deliberately to take in Nagisa’s expression towards him. He seemed to be taking in words with a distinguishing seriousness that Rei couldn’t recall ever witnessing within him before. Peculiar. “I mean, it doesn’t mean we can’t have as much fun as people in relationships with their significant other. We’re having fun now, right?” The gentle, sincere smile of Nagisa’s returned, along with the red stained skin of his cheeks. 

“Yeah. That’s true. I just think it’d be nice to fall in love,” said Nagisa wondrously. Rei exhaled a laugh filled with weak humour. 

“I don’t think love is as easy to come across as you think, Nagisa-kun.” Nagisa kept Rei’s gaze, his smile vanishing, his wondering solemnity returning like the onslaught of a fog.

“I think love isn’t as complicated as you’re thinking it is, Rei-chan.” Rei felt his eyes, his senses, still for a moment. It was as if Nagisa had packed a hidden motive behind his words. “Don’t you want to find someone you love, this year, Rei-chan?” Rei found himself slightly taken aback by the sincerity of the question. He didn’t often, or at all, associate romantic love with himself. But, since Nagisa had asked in seek of an answer, he looked around his late night thoughts to invoke one of earnestness. 

"I think... I think I would like to use this year to focus on study, and ensuring the swim team achieves its best results." A small pause settled over the conversation. Nagisa’s eyes went downwards.

"Oh." Was there a hint of disappointment in his voice?

"But," Nagisa looked up, "if someone were to confess to me, or if I feel the time sees fit for me to confess to a person I’m interested in, I would like to think I would pursue the prospect of a romantic relationship."

"Oh." The syllable took on a lighter articulation. Hopeful, was it? Buoyant, perhaps?

"What about you, Nagisa-kun? Are you searching for a romantic relationship?" Nagisa's eyes flickered from Rei, then landed on a place on the bed close in front of him.

"Rei-chan, you ask too many questions for such a late time at night," he whined playfully. Rei’s brows instantly hardened to meet one another.

"Hey! I answered all of your questions!"

"You can just ask me again in the morning,” Nagisa dismissed airily.

"When I wake you up at six?" A pillow hit Rei in the face.

"Hey- Nagisa-kun!"

"Shh, Rei-chan. Go to sleep." As he watched Nagisa turn his back on him, the partially blind boy positioned on the floor, Rei wondered where the serious composure Nagisa had shown not even a minute prior had disappeared to. A flicker of hope thumped against his heart. Inwardly, he hoped it would reappear again.

Outwardly, he heaved a weighted sigh. "Ugh. Good night, Nagisa-kun." Nagisa yawned.

"Good night, Rei-chan."

 

\---

 

Somehow, when Rei awoke, his hand and Nagisa's were unexplainably close. Almost as if some interval of the night had conjured their hands to hold as they slept. Rei smiled and gave Nagisa's hand a squeeze. He released it immediately. He didn't know what came over him.

**Author's Note:**

> This came from the 'Fluffy Friday' prompt, "Can I stay over tonight? I had a bad day."  
> I really just wanted to write a 'chatty' one shot, ya know? I looooove having long conversations like this, and because we don't really get to see many conversations like this between Rei and Nagisa (I think we got, like, 2) I really wanted to write this!  
> Thank you for reading! ^^


End file.
